1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to exercise
More particularly, to an exercise device provided with an exercise loading unit. The exercise device is generally used for upward, downward, frontward, backward, leftward, rightward, inward and outward exercises. The device allows the user to selectively or compositely carry out the upward, downward, frontward, backward, leftward, rightward, inward and outward exercises, and develop and condition various parts of the body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known exercise devices generally use loading force generated by load means, such as a weight, a spring or a hydraulic cylinder. These devices provide individual exercises, thereby having a disadvantage in that they allow the user to develop and condition his body by only one of three directional exercises, i.e., frontward and backward exercise, leftward and rightward exercise and upward and backward exercise.
For example, a known weight lifting machine has an intrinsic use suitable for an upward exercise of arms; a known muscling machine has an intrinsic use suitable for an inward exercise of the leftward and rightward exercise; a known rowing machine has an intrinsic use suitable for a pulling exercise of arms; and a known running machine has an intrinsic use suitable for a downward exercise of legs.
In addition, there have been proposed several types of physiotherapy instruments, a kind of medical instrument. Like the aforementioned exercise devices, these physiotherapy instruments allow a unidirectional exercise. For example, repeated upward and downward exercise in the case of a known leg physiotherapy instrument.
As described above, such known exercise devices and physiotherapy instruments provide specified directional exercises. In this regard, it is required to prepare several exercise devices having specified uses when the user intends to develop and condition various parts of his body by all of the directional exercises. This inevitably causes difficulty in preparation of several exercise devices, resulting in remarkable capital investment in buying individual exercise devices and a real problem in locating the exercise devices in a room in an ordinary home.
Because of the problem, the user who intends to develop and condition various parts of his body inevitably uses a sports center or a health club which is equipped with several types of exercise devices.
Additionally, the known exercise devices only provide unidirectional exercises for developing and conditioning muscles of arms and legs, respectively. In this regard, known exercise devices have another problem in that the user must pay close attention to the directions of the exercises; otherwise, he will not uniformly develop and condition various parts of his body.
These problems have created an increasing demand for an integrated exercise device having several functions.
In the past, in order to achieve the aforementioned demand, there has been a design of an integrated exercise device, such as disclosed in Korean U.M. Publication Nos. 83-283, 84-877, 85-3022, 85-3206, 86-69 and 86-2201.
However, this known integrated exercise device is nothing but integration of known several exercise units having intrinsic directional exercises, or composition of the known exercise units such that it is allowed to carry out only a part of required exercises. Hence, this integrated exercise device has a problem in that it can not allow the user to uniformly develop and condition various parts of his body. Furthermore, this type of exercise device is provided with individual loading members for several exercise units, involving additional capital investment in manufacture thereof and causing inefficiency in its use.